Is digital transformation essential in a modern business? David Sovie, Senior Managing Director, and Vik Viniak, Managing Director and Senior Partner at Accenture, believe that with transformation comes growth. In this episode, Vik and David discuss why digital business models are critical for success and how companies can rethink their own products and services.
Press play to hear David Sovie and Vik Viniak’s thoughts on…
Improving Products by Making Them Platforms
"The reality is that the Tesla car that you have today is actually a better car than three years ago. In the history of the world, that's never been true. It's only when you can have this kind of what I like to call 'evergreen' meaning, it's a continually upgradeable platform that you can actually improve features and functionality over time." —David Sovie
The Importance of Persistence
“Once you're on this journey, you're all in and you have to stay patient and you have to stay persistent on the journey. You can't just turn around in six months and say these things are not happening fast enough because to turn around a ship, it takes time.” —Vik Viniak
Partnering for Success
“I'm a firm believer that you've got to build your ecosystem. You’ve got to pick the right partners. And then you’ve got to go all in, whether it's to build a product, whether it's to scale or whether it's to drive growth in the market.” —Vik Viniak
This is not a small little tweak
Speaker:to your business. It is a
Speaker:fundamental transformation of
Speaker:your business model, and it
Speaker:needs to be board- and CEO-
Speaker:sponsored, and you need to think
Speaker:holistically, because it impacts
Speaker:every single process. It impacts
Speaker:how you develop products, how
Speaker:you market them, how you sell
Speaker:them, how you service them.
Speaker:Once you're on this journey,
Speaker:you're all in. You have to stay
Speaker:patient and you have to stay
Speaker:persistent on this journey. You
Speaker:can't just turn around in six
Speaker:months and say these things are
Speaker:not happening fast enough
Speaker:because to turn around a ship,
Speaker:it takes time.
Speaker:This episode of "Decoding
Speaker:Digital" is going to be a little
Speaker:bit different. Instead of
Speaker:interviewing one guest, I sit
Speaker:down with two of the foremost
Speaker:experts in digital business
Speaker:models, David Sovie, and Vik
Speaker:Viniak. In their roles as
Speaker:managing directors at Accenture,
Speaker:both David and Vik have played
Speaker:an integral part in helping
Speaker:companies around the world
Speaker:develop digital transformation
Speaker:strategies and put them into
Speaker:action. Based in Chicago, Vik
Speaker:leads Accenture's electronics
Speaker:and high-tech industry practice
Speaker:within North America, where he
Speaker:focuses on using analytics and
Speaker:AI to drive business
Speaker:transformation. He has extensive
Speaker:experience in Industry X.,
Speaker:supply chain organization design,
Speaker:and other complex areas. David
Speaker:is based in Japan. He is
Speaker:Accenture's global high-tech
Speaker:industry lead. He is responsible
Speaker:for driving the high-tech
Speaker:industry growth, thought
Speaker:leadership, client portfolio,
Speaker:and market positioning. David is
Speaker:an expert in rethinking
Speaker:traditional business models. In
Speaker:2019, he released a book on the
Speaker:topic called "Reinventing the
Speaker:Product -- How to Transform Your
Speaker:Business and Create Value in the
Speaker:Digital Age." In this episode,
Speaker:David and Vik talk about why
Speaker:digital business models are so
Speaker:critical for success and what
Speaker:companies can do to start
Speaker:rethinking their own products
Speaker:and services for the future of
Speaker:commerce. This is Daniel Saks,
Speaker:co-CEO of AppDirect. It's time
Speaker:to decode everything as a
Speaker:service.
Speaker:Welcome to Decoding Digital, a
Speaker:podcast for innovators looking
Speaker:to thrive in the digital economy.
Speaker:I'm your host, Daniel Saks. I'll
Speaker:sit down with other founders,
Speaker:CEOs, and change-makers to
Speaker:decode the trends that are
Speaker:transforming the way we work.
Speaker:Let's decode. David, Vik,
Speaker:welcome to Decoding Digital.
Speaker:Super excited today to profile
Speaker:both of your work on as-a-
Speaker:service business models. As
Speaker:we've discussed on Decoding
Speaker:Digital, the importance of
Speaker:digital transformation is really
Speaker:critical for our customer
Speaker:success. It's not just about
Speaker:the technology, but it's also
Speaker:about the business models that
Speaker:allow business customers to
Speaker:easily consume the services that
Speaker:we're providing. David, I know
Speaker:you actually wrote a book
Speaker:focused on as-a-service models
Speaker:called Reinventing the Product.
Speaker:I was really excited about the
Speaker:book and the content, but wanted
Speaker:to double-click on which
Speaker:companies have exceeded it
Speaker:reinventing their products, and
Speaker:how have they done that through
Speaker:the innovation of business
Speaker:models.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely. First, thank
Speaker:you for having Vik and I on your
Speaker:podcast. We're super delighted
Speaker:to be here. I'll give you a
Speaker:preamble then answer your
Speaker:question. I always talk a little
Speaker:bit about why now? Why now our
Speaker:company is talking about
Speaker:reinventing the business model
Speaker:to as-a-service? What's
Speaker:different now? First, it starts
Speaker:with the fact you have to
Speaker:acknowledge that to have an as-a-
Speaker:service model, at least a
Speaker:compelling one, you need a
Speaker:product that's smart, with
Speaker:enough processing power,
Speaker:connected at a high enough
Speaker:bandwidth, and ideally AI-
Speaker:enabled. The reality is even
Speaker:five years ago, most of that was
Speaker:not possible. Without 4G, and
Speaker:now soon 5G networking, you
Speaker:didn't have the bandwidth, power,
Speaker:and processors, used to need to
Speaker:have a $500 or a $1,000 device
Speaker:to have enough processing power
Speaker:to have a really smart product.
Speaker:Related to processing power is
Speaker:the sensors, because to really
Speaker:be smart, you need sensors on a
Speaker:product. The reality today is
Speaker:sensors cost pennies. You can
Speaker:get processing power for pretty
Speaker:inexpensive along with the
Speaker:connectivity. As the world
Speaker:moves to smart, connected
Speaker:products, then the logical
Speaker:question a lot of companies ask
Speaker:is, "Do I sell this as a product
Speaker:or do I, when it's connected and
Speaker:it's always being updated and
Speaker:evergreen, why not actually
Speaker:shift the business model to an
Speaker:as-a-service business model?"
Speaker:That's a little bit of context.
Speaker:Then if you ask, "Who has done
Speaker:this?" I often say to product
Speaker:companies, you might think
Speaker:software companies are a little
Speaker:different than you, but remember,
Speaker:software used to be sold as a CD-
Speaker:ROM and sent in a box. The
Speaker:software industry has almost
Speaker:completely pivoted to software
Speaker:as a service in the last five
Speaker:years. There was the born-in-
Speaker:the-SaaS-model companies like
Speaker:salesforce.com, but people
Speaker:forget that Adobe was probably
Speaker:one of the first leaders to
Speaker:shift from a traditional
Speaker:software business model to a
Speaker:SaaS business model. A lot of
Speaker:the hardware companies are still
Speaker:on that journey together. A few
Speaker:examples of companies are
Speaker:interesting. Apple still makes
Speaker:most of its revenue from selling
Speaker:hardware, but if you look now,
Speaker:they have a 50 billion-dollar-
Speaker:plus services business. They've
Speaker:taken that platform and now you
Speaker:have Apple Music, Apple Cloud,
Speaker:Apple TV. You see a lot of
Speaker:hardware companies trying to
Speaker:emulate that. We could probably
Speaker:get in a few more examples as we
Speaker:go through, but that's my simple
Speaker:overview answer.
Speaker:What do you think that the
Speaker:product companies can learn from
Speaker:the software playbook on some of
Speaker:the examples that you provided
Speaker:of traditional software
Speaker:companies like maybe the Adobes
Speaker:of the world or the Microsofts
Speaker:of the world successfully
Speaker:transforming? How do you bring
Speaker:that to light in the products
Speaker:that are trying to transition to
Speaker:as-a-service business models?
Speaker:Basically, every hardware
Speaker:company I know is asking this
Speaker:question today of, "Can I and
Speaker:should I transition to some sort
Speaker:of as-a-service model?" Some
Speaker:people call it device as a
Speaker:service, hardware as a service,
Speaker:infrastructure as a service.
Speaker:There's different flavors of
Speaker:that business model ship. Every
Speaker:CEO I know is asking that
Speaker:question. Again, why? One is
Speaker:because it's technically
Speaker:possible, as I said before, but
Speaker:two, Wall Street rewards that
Speaker:shift that this recurring
Speaker:revenue business model results
Speaker:in much higher valuations and
Speaker:much more durability of revenue.
Speaker:The starting point I often say
Speaker:is this is not a small little
Speaker:tweak to your business. It is a
Speaker:fundamental transformation of
Speaker:your business model, and it
Speaker:needs to be board and CEO-
Speaker:sponsored, and you need to think
Speaker:holistically, because it impacts
Speaker:every single process. It
Speaker:impacts how you develop products,
Speaker:how you market them, how you
Speaker:sell them, how you service them.
Speaker:In particular, the software
Speaker:industry did a good job of
Speaker:creating this whole idea of
Speaker:customer success to say, "It's
Speaker:not a one-time sale. I now need
Speaker:people who actually think about
Speaker:driving adoption and usage of
Speaker:the as-a-service business model."
Speaker:As a simple example, that
Speaker:function doesn't exist in a
Speaker:hardware company. There's no
Speaker:such function that says once you
Speaker:sell a product, I think about
Speaker:driving usage and adoption
Speaker:and the customer
Speaker:success with that product over
Speaker:time. At the simple level, I
Speaker:say it needs to be a board and
Speaker:CEO-sponsored transformation. It
Speaker:needs to be holistic end to end.
Speaker:I know maybe Vik could comment
Speaker:on that. I know you're working
Speaker:with one of your clients that
Speaker:are pretty closely on that shift
Speaker:in business model.
Speaker:To add to what Dave mentioned,
Speaker:there are a couple of other
Speaker:things that need to be learned.
Speaker:As you make that pivot from a
Speaker:product to a platform as a
Speaker:service or as-a-service
Speaker:offerings, basically, you need
Speaker:to be also thinking about the
Speaker:agile principle that the
Speaker:software industry has grown into,
Speaker:especially for your architecture.
Speaker:You need to make sure you're
Speaker:doing agile development, because
Speaker:typically, these product
Speaker:companies are very much of
Speaker:engineering focus where you need
Speaker:to get end-to-end down in a very
Speaker:waterfall fashion. Bring that
Speaker:agile principles in. The second
Speaker:thing is Dave was talking about
Speaker:the transformation. You think
Speaker:about it's full cultural
Speaker:transformation, because today,
Speaker:I'm selling a widget that is
Speaker:hundreds of thousands or
Speaker:millions of dollars and I pay my
Speaker:Salesforce commission based on
Speaker:that. Now, I'm asking people to
Speaker:have a subscription which is
Speaker:maybe only a few 100 a month or
Speaker:a few $1,000 a month. You're
Speaker:changing the mindset. Showing
Speaker:people the value that that's
Speaker:going to bring, the pivot that
Speaker:is going to happen, that's
Speaker:another principle that need to
Speaker:be brought in. The third thing
Speaker:is that this is a dual dynamic.
Speaker:If you look at product forward,
Speaker:what features of your product
Speaker:are going to enable the success
Speaker:for the customer, what value
Speaker:they're going to drive? Market
Speaker:backward, what is the word the
Speaker:market is looking for? Staying
Speaker:close to your customers and
Speaker:making sure you are constantly
Speaker:innovating and creating features
Speaker:in your product that the
Speaker:customer is looking for and
Speaker:having a closer fit of those two.
Speaker:I feel those are some of the
Speaker:other things that, from a
Speaker:software industry, that product
Speaker:companies should be adopting.
Speaker:I know, Vik, you've worked with
Speaker:many companies that have gone
Speaker:beyond thinking about how to
Speaker:shift software to as-a-service
Speaker:or recurring, and even beyond
Speaker:products. How do businesses
Speaker:think about, let's say, bundling
Speaker:product services and other value
Speaker:points to drive this recurring
Speaker:business model strategy?
Speaker:Absolutely. There are two
Speaker:mindsets that you need to be
Speaker:aware of as the companies are
Speaker:making that pivot. First and
Speaker:foremost, you already have a
Speaker:customer base where you're
Speaker:selling product very
Speaker:successfully. From that
Speaker:customer base, there are some
Speaker:early adopters who want to be in
Speaker:the front end and who want to be
Speaker:with the cutting edge of the new
Speaker:innovation that you are bringing.
Speaker:Take those customers on that
Speaker:journey with you, bring them to
Speaker:co-innovate with you, help them
Speaker:tell you what they're really
Speaker:looking for and how you can make
Speaker:their life better. The whole
Speaker:concept of customer experience
Speaker:becomes even more amplified.
Speaker:It's all about customer
Speaker:experience. Without driving that
Speaker:better customer experience, you
Speaker:cannot create a product that is
Speaker:going to be a hit in the market.
Speaker:The second thing to look at is
Speaker:look at your product and look at
Speaker:where the industry is headed.
Speaker:Can I move into adjacencies? Can
Speaker:I move into adjacent industries?
Speaker:If you don't move it, someone
Speaker:else will do that, because your
Speaker:product will become as a source
Speaker:of what happened to some of the
Speaker:telcos. It's like they've had
Speaker:what they call the fiber, but
Speaker:it's a dumb pipe, because it's
Speaker:just used for the data. There
Speaker:were companies who were coming
Speaker:and building OTT platforms on
Speaker:top of that, or plugging
Speaker:applications in that can drive
Speaker:the benefits. You want to have
Speaker:incentivized people to innovate
Speaker:and come into your architecture
Speaker:and innovate with you and layer
Speaker:on top of your platform while
Speaker:making sure that you're also on
Speaker:the cutting edge. You're not
Speaker:leaving it all for others to
Speaker:come in and capture that market
Speaker:share. You want to pick some
Speaker:spots, and then you want to open
Speaker:up other spots for the ecosystem
Speaker:to come in and innovate with you.
Speaker:In your work at Accenture, you
Speaker:obviously consult to some of the
Speaker:largest organizations in the
Speaker:world about their transformation.
Speaker:As we saw with the as-a-service
Speaker:software models, oftentimes, it
Speaker:was the upstarts that figured
Speaker:out how to thrive and become
Speaker:large companies. When you're
Speaker:looking at the next cohort of
Speaker:companies that are trying to
Speaker:transition, how do you advise
Speaker:them on effectively making this
Speaker:transformation, recognizing all
Speaker:the restrictions in their old
Speaker:way of doing things, but also
Speaker:recognizing that they have a
Speaker:great brand? Where do they start
Speaker:from an organizational
Speaker:perspective?
Speaker:I'll start, and Dave has a lot
Speaker:of experience in this as well.
Speaker:I'd love Dave to build on this
Speaker:thing. First of all, a lot of
Speaker:the clients at this point are
Speaker:like transformation-fatigued out
Speaker:at this point, because
Speaker:everything is a transformation.
Speaker:Imagine digital coming at a
Speaker:million miles an hour at them,
Speaker:then the whole need to look for
Speaker:new revenue models. Companies
Speaker:which are doing an agile
Speaker:approach in a way that, "OK, I'm
Speaker:going to pick a couple of
Speaker:products. I'm going to test them
Speaker:in the market. I'm going to
Speaker:scale the success of that, and
Speaker:I'm going to go after in a
Speaker:bigger way," that's number one.
Speaker:Second is, from a cultural
Speaker:perspective, you have to act
Speaker:like a start-up while making
Speaker:sure that you are still a large
Speaker:organization. Let me explain
Speaker:what I mean by that. You need
Speaker:to have innovation and you need
Speaker:to have people incentivized to
Speaker:fail fast, but you also need to
Speaker:encourage people to use the
Speaker:infrastructure of the large
Speaker:organization that has been set
Speaker:up. In a start-up, you don't
Speaker:have all that infrastructure.
Speaker:You have a strong customer base
Speaker:today. Don't try to go find new
Speaker:customer base, leverage the
Speaker:existing customer base. You have
Speaker:the back office that is already
Speaker:there set up. Don't try to
Speaker:recreate new back office,
Speaker:leverage what you have.
Speaker:Similarly, you have the
Speaker:relationships that are there, so
Speaker:leverage that. I feel that
Speaker:that's the approach that has to
Speaker:be followed. Don't try to do
Speaker:with a big bang. Rather, do an
Speaker:incremental so you can drive
Speaker:that success.
Speaker:This is a hard question
Speaker:and it varies a little bit by
Speaker:company. The core question to me
Speaker:is, is your existing core
Speaker:business going to be completely
Speaker:disrupted by this shift to as-a-
Speaker:service in a major way, or is
Speaker:it going to be slow and gradual?
Speaker:Or, is there going to be a
Speaker:segment of the customer
Speaker:population that is interested in
Speaker:this so that you could go a
Speaker:little more slowly, if you will?
Speaker:It's certainly much easier if
Speaker:you could say, "OK, I got this
Speaker:core business. It's going to
Speaker:continue running. It's going to
Speaker:generate cash, while I could
Speaker:build a side business or a new
Speaker:co-model to offer new types of
Speaker:as-a-service business models to
Speaker:my installed base customer." I
Speaker:see a lot of that. "OK, my core
Speaker:business is my core business,
Speaker:but I'm going to try to add on.
Speaker:I'm going to create a new
Speaker:revenue stream by creating some
Speaker:new digital services or digital
Speaker:service models that complement
Speaker:that." If you could do that,
Speaker:that's by far the best. The
Speaker:reality is there's some
Speaker:businesses that are going to
Speaker:completely shift. If you don't
Speaker:say, "OK, this is how my model
Speaker:is shifting and I'm all in,"
Speaker:that's the core question. Do you
Speaker:need to, in certain product
Speaker:segments, say, "I'm all in
Speaker:and this is the future
Speaker:of my business"? At least in
Speaker:the software industry,
Speaker:eventually, the answer was
Speaker:you're all in. You're all in on
Speaker:SaaS and the old shrink-wrapped
Speaker:software on a CD-ROM in a box is,
Speaker:in many cases, gone, or
Speaker:on the way to being gone.
Speaker:You've got to ask yourself that
Speaker:question. "Is this something
Speaker:that can compliment and my core
Speaker:business is fine from there 5 or
Speaker:10 years, or is this really
Speaker:something that's going to cause
Speaker:me to have to actually
Speaker:completely flip the switch?"
Speaker:What are some examples in the
Speaker:product economy that you think
Speaker:are well-suited to go all in?
Speaker:I'm going to give you a couple
Speaker:of examples. It hasn't quite
Speaker:flipped yet, but the automotive
Speaker:industry is getting close to
Speaker:that world. You say Tesla has
Speaker:proven what is a car. A car is
Speaker:basically a computing platform
Speaker:and software with four
Speaker:wheels on it, in the sense that
Speaker:a Tesla car and others like it
Speaker:are very much an evergreen
Speaker:platform that's continually
Speaker:upgraded and updated. The
Speaker:reality is the Tesla car that
Speaker:you have today is a better car
Speaker:than three years ago. In the
Speaker:history of the world, that has
Speaker:never been true. If you
Speaker:bought a product three years
Speaker:later, is it a better product?
Speaker:It's only when you can have this,
Speaker:what I like to call an evergreen,
Speaker:meaning it's a continually
Speaker:upgradeable platform that you
Speaker:can improve features and
Speaker:functionality over time. You're
Speaker:starting to see this world
Speaker:already, where people like Tesla
Speaker:are saying, "Well, I'm taking
Speaker:the first baby steps, so I'm
Speaker:going to charge you for upgrades
Speaker:so you want to pay for
Speaker:autonomous driving. That's more
Speaker:of an upgrade package." They,
Speaker:and others, are very much
Speaker:talking about, "Well, why don't
Speaker:I move all the way to an as-a-
Speaker:service model for access to
Speaker:vehicles at any given time?"
Speaker:That's one interesting area that
Speaker:everyone understands. The PC
Speaker:industry might be on the verge
Speaker:of making this shift. A lot of
Speaker:the laptop companies are
Speaker:basically saying, "Well, you're
Speaker:going to upgrade this product
Speaker:every three years anyway, so
Speaker:why not try to find
Speaker:some ways to make this an
Speaker:evergreen as-a-service business
Speaker:model?" I do believe there's
Speaker:going to be a number of segments
Speaker:that will, 5 or 10 years from
Speaker:now, flip a switch, and then the
Speaker:question is, is it going to be
Speaker:happening in a 2-year window, or
Speaker:is it going to take 5 or 10
Speaker:years in order for the switch to
Speaker:fully flip?
Speaker:Let me build on what Dave said,
Speaker:give another example, which is
Speaker:around the concept of software-
Speaker:defined hardware upgrades. I
Speaker:have a Tesla, and each month, I
Speaker:get a new feature, which almost
Speaker:makes it like I'm getting a new
Speaker:car. Imagine someone who wants
Speaker:to get a new experience in the
Speaker:car and you have to go in, and I
Speaker:got to change the seats, and I
Speaker:got to get this. Everything is
Speaker:an upgrade here. A lot of these
Speaker:upgrades are being constantly
Speaker:pushed out to the customers.
Speaker:Now, that almost creates the
Speaker:newness of the product and keeps
Speaker:that hook in on the customer.
Speaker:The day is not far for -- I know
Speaker:some of the car companies are
Speaker:already trying that -- car as a
Speaker:service, where each six months,
Speaker:each year, you can go and drive
Speaker:in a new car. Obviously, it's
Speaker:expensive, but if that's the
Speaker:lifestyle you want, the option
Speaker:is available.
Speaker:Fantastic examples and ones that
Speaker:everyone can relate to. What
Speaker:I've seen from interacting with
Speaker:a lot of our clients is that in
Speaker:order to drive these all-in
Speaker:transformations, it takes more
Speaker:than just the technology. It
Speaker:takes a cultural shift. What are
Speaker:the characteristics that you've
Speaker:seen in leaders who have been
Speaker:successful at driving all-in
Speaker:change?
Speaker:First, it needs to start with
Speaker:the recognition of what you just
Speaker:said. This requires not only a
Speaker:business model transformation
Speaker:but a cultural transformation.
Speaker:The reality is traditional,
Speaker:particularly product hardware,
Speaker:companies have culture and
Speaker:processes that were built 20 or
Speaker:30 years ago for a different
Speaker:world. They were built for very
Speaker:much a... I launch a new
Speaker:product once a year. It's a
Speaker:transactional sale. I sell it to
Speaker:a distributor or to a retailer.
Speaker:Then maybe I have a warranty
Speaker:card that tells me who my
Speaker:customer is, but I don't really
Speaker:have any ongoing relationship,
Speaker:in a meaningful way, with that
Speaker:customer. To actually adopt and
Speaker:say, "I now need to actually
Speaker:have the mentality of a services
Speaker:company," to say that the
Speaker:product is just a way to create
Speaker:a footprint to facilitate an
Speaker:ongoing services relationship is
Speaker:a dramatic cultural shift.
Speaker:Trying to get all the
Speaker:organizations to actually
Speaker:understand and be metric-ed on
Speaker:things like adoption, not just
Speaker:customer satisfaction but
Speaker:adoption and usage of the
Speaker:features of the platform.
Speaker:That's an example, again, I
Speaker:think you can get some
Speaker:inspiration from the software
Speaker:industry to say, "Hey, I'm
Speaker:actually measuring my people and
Speaker:creating some of the
Speaker:compensation and the visible
Speaker:metrics tied to usage and
Speaker:adoption and advocacy for the
Speaker:platform." That is just a
Speaker:massive shift. It's just not
Speaker:something that traditional...
Speaker:Product companies' culture is
Speaker:just not geared that way.
Speaker:They're geared to design a
Speaker:product and launch it and then
Speaker:move on to the next one.
Speaker:Definitely, this all-in decision
Speaker:is huge. It requires a cultural
Speaker:shift, a transformation, a
Speaker:business model trend. You have
Speaker:to go all in. Going partial in
Speaker:on this strategy could create
Speaker:friction, confusion. What's the
Speaker:balance of saying, "OK, we have
Speaker:to do this. We have to go all in.
Speaker:We have to go fast," versus
Speaker:letting them take their time and
Speaker:overthink it? Then three years
Speaker:go by, five years go by. A
Speaker:startup is eating their lunch.
Speaker:We as consultants have to
Speaker:recognize that the pace at which
Speaker:we move is actually much faster
Speaker:than the pace at which our
Speaker:clients want to move. You have
Speaker:to lay it out for them and then
Speaker:let them make the decision.
Speaker:What happens is when they make
Speaker:the decision with all the data
Speaker:that you have given and you
Speaker:guide them through their
Speaker:decision, it's a better decision
Speaker:versus a decision that gets
Speaker:forced on them by even their own
Speaker:leadership. The leadership buys
Speaker:in. The CEO, let's say, buys in.
Speaker:The organization doesn't buy in.
Speaker:To some aspect, you have to have
Speaker:the right deliberation to get
Speaker:that right consensus. Then the
Speaker:leadership goes back into the
Speaker:all-in. Once you're on this
Speaker:journey, you're all in. You have
Speaker:to stay patient and you have to
Speaker:stay persistent on this journey.
Speaker:You can't just turn around in
Speaker:six months and say these things
Speaker:are not happening fast enough.
Speaker:To turn around a ship, it takes
Speaker:time, versus like turn around a
Speaker:car.
Speaker:I feel this trade-off between
Speaker:speed and also management of
Speaker:expectations. One of the things
Speaker:that I found is that at a bigger
Speaker:organization, people who are
Speaker:working on an innovation project
Speaker:do need quick wins to build or
Speaker:showcase progress, but at the
Speaker:same time need the support from
Speaker:the larger organization in order
Speaker:to adopt it in a reasonable
Speaker:timeframe. How do you balance
Speaker:this need for speed with the
Speaker:reality of managing expectations
Speaker:to drive overall transformation?
Speaker:First, I'd say that it's not
Speaker:easy, and is also linked to this
Speaker:comment before. Is this whole
Speaker:market going to flip a switch,
Speaker:or is this going to tackle a
Speaker:segment of the market? If the
Speaker:whole market flips a switch, the
Speaker:actual P&L and cash flow of a
Speaker:company has a dramatic impact.
Speaker:The CFO and the CEO need to
Speaker:think really hard to manage Wall
Speaker:Street's expectations and the
Speaker:employee base expectations. The
Speaker:transition period is going to be
Speaker:very painful, because you
Speaker:actually are going to have
Speaker:revenue go down potentially for
Speaker:a period. Instead of just
Speaker:selling a product for a thousand,
Speaker:as Vik said, you're going to
Speaker:sell in as-a-service model and
Speaker:next year's revenue is going to
Speaker:be $100. That transition period
Speaker:is pretty painful. If you think
Speaker:you need to do it all and switch,
Speaker:you need to actually have the
Speaker:right clarity of messaging to
Speaker:all stakeholders, to Wall Street,
Speaker:and to your employees and make
Speaker:sure that you understand that
Speaker:transition period is going to be
Speaker:a challenge. Even if it's the
Speaker:second model, which says I could
Speaker:start with a segment of the
Speaker:customer, here, a great example
Speaker:is light bulbs. I always joke if
Speaker:you can think of one of the
Speaker:world's dumbest products
Speaker:historically, it's a light bulb.
Speaker:It's a piece of glass with a
Speaker:filament inside. There is not
Speaker:much to a light bulb. Today, if
Speaker:you look at a smart, connected
Speaker:light, I talk about it in the
Speaker:book I wrote around Signify's
Speaker:example, the old Philips
Speaker:Lighting, where they created the
Speaker:Hue platform. It's an LED light
Speaker:that's based on semiconductor
Speaker:technology, but you can control
Speaker:it and access it remotely via
Speaker:your smartphone. That actually
Speaker:ends up being a segment of the
Speaker:population. Say there's a
Speaker:segment that's willing to buy
Speaker:this higher-end, higher-
Speaker:functionality smart, connected
Speaker:lighting, even then, in order to
Speaker:build that, you need to ring-
Speaker:fence significant investment
Speaker:dollars to say this may take a
Speaker:while to build this. How do I
Speaker:create that investment envelope
Speaker:with a commitment to protect
Speaker:that investment envelope for a
Speaker:multiyear period in order to
Speaker:build that business? There is a
Speaker:two-speed model. There's the
Speaker:flip the switch version and
Speaker:there's the, "Hey, I can
Speaker:actually have a complementary
Speaker:new business that is going to
Speaker:lower my financial performance
Speaker:in the short term, so I
Speaker:need to protect it. It has the
Speaker:potential of actually being
Speaker:significantly more profitable in
Speaker:the long term." It's a very
Speaker:hard balance to make. It's super
Speaker:important to be very explicit in
Speaker:your messaging and in your
Speaker:financial planning.
Speaker:We've talked about the
Speaker:opportunity to go all in on as-a-
Speaker:service business models. We've
Speaker:talked about the need for
Speaker:cultural change and the
Speaker:leadership characteristics and
Speaker:dynamics to ensure that that
Speaker:change can be successful and the
Speaker:way to manage expectations of
Speaker:the teams. Let's take a few
Speaker:minutes to double-click on the
Speaker:technology. As a product company
Speaker:is looking to shift to an as-a-
Speaker:service model, there's obviously
Speaker:a whole new tech stack that can
Speaker:enable the commerce, and the
Speaker:metering and monitoring, and
Speaker:subscription enablement, and the
Speaker:user interface, and the
Speaker:ecosystem. Can you speak to
Speaker:some of the challenges that a
Speaker:business might have on sourcing
Speaker:this technology and getting
Speaker:going with adopting new
Speaker:technology to make this shift?
Speaker:First, what you just said is
Speaker:absolutely true, that underlying
Speaker:technology platforms that
Speaker:product companies have built
Speaker:were built 10, 20, 30 years ago
Speaker:for a transactional product sale.
Speaker:As they've launched,
Speaker:particularly if they launched
Speaker:more of a skunkworks or pilot
Speaker:effort around as a service,
Speaker:they used some bubble
Speaker:gum and mailing wax to
Speaker:enable it. The reality is they
Speaker:can't do many, many things.
Speaker:They don't have systems that
Speaker:allow you to have a customer
Speaker:self-configure an as-a-service
Speaker:solution. You go in, you want to
Speaker:buy a product, you want to pick
Speaker:which features and
Speaker:functionalities that you want in
Speaker:an as-a-service solution and
Speaker:configure it and buy it directly.
Speaker:They don't have that. They
Speaker:don't have the ability to track
Speaker:the entitlements to say, "Well,
Speaker:OK, this customer bought
Speaker:something with certain access,
Speaker:service entitlements," which is
Speaker:quite common in the software
Speaker:industry. This idea doesn't
Speaker:exist. What is the
Speaker:entitlement rights? The notion
Speaker:of doing ongoing monitoring,
Speaker:yeah, sure. Maybe they did some
Speaker:break/fix monitoring, but they
Speaker:didn't track usage and adoption.
Speaker:How are you now tracking much
Speaker:more larger amounts of data from
Speaker:the installed base to understand
Speaker:the usage and adoption around it?
Speaker:It's a pretty massive change.
Speaker:That's why we see a lot of
Speaker:clients right now saying, "OK,
Speaker:if this is going to be the
Speaker:future of our company, we now
Speaker:need to do an end-to-end
Speaker:business process and technology
Speaker:architecture review and yes,
Speaker:basically come up with a
Speaker:completely new technology stack,
Speaker:ideally, that supports both the
Speaker:old business and the new
Speaker:business." The old models
Speaker:aren't going to go away, so you
Speaker:can't easily afford two separate
Speaker:sets of IT systems and
Speaker:technology platforms. How do you
Speaker:think through your core systems
Speaker:to enable traditional product
Speaker:sales, standalone services sales,
Speaker:as-a-service sales, other types
Speaker:of subscription business models?
Speaker:It's possible, but it's a lot of
Speaker:work. I'm spending a
Speaker:lot of time with several clients
Speaker:right now plotting out that
Speaker:technology architecture of the
Speaker:future.
Speaker:The only thing I would add to
Speaker:what Dave said is that if you
Speaker:have a solution in the market
Speaker:that is readily available, go
Speaker:with that, rather than try to
Speaker:create a solution on your own.
Speaker:Or, when given a choice, go with
Speaker:the out-of-the-box solution
Speaker:versus trying to customize.
Speaker:Right now, there are several
Speaker:solutions available for the back
Speaker:office as well as some of the
Speaker:capabilities you need, leverage
Speaker:them. That's the only advice I
Speaker:give to the clients.
Speaker:When you're thinking of a client
Speaker:and how they picked, Vik, to
Speaker:your point, an effective best of
Speaker:breed out-of-the-box technology,
Speaker:how do you help them assess if
Speaker:their traditional IT stack can
Speaker:map to that new stack and how
Speaker:that works?
Speaker:I'm doing this right now
Speaker:with a client, and one
Speaker:of the things we're doing is
Speaker:forcing them to think through 15
Speaker:or 20 different use cases or
Speaker:user stories of the future.
Speaker:Probably, 10 or 12 of them exist
Speaker:today. They don't necessarily
Speaker:exist in this client, but we're
Speaker:saying, "OK, there's many
Speaker:different flavors of as a
Speaker:service." Forcing them
Speaker:to think through, what is the
Speaker:evolution of all the different
Speaker:business models and permutations
Speaker:of business models that you
Speaker:could imagine offering in the
Speaker:future so that you could future-
Speaker:proof? Often, these are pretty
Speaker:big-ticket investments. You're
Speaker:probably easily sometimes
Speaker:talking $100 million or more for
Speaker:a big Fortune 500 or Global 2000-
Speaker:type company in order to enable
Speaker:that tech stack in the future.
Speaker:You want to future-proof the
Speaker:investment. In my mind, I
Speaker:always say let's start with,
Speaker:what's the evolution of the
Speaker:customer experience you want?
Speaker:Number one. Two, what are the
Speaker:different business models? As I
Speaker:said, there could be 15 or 20
Speaker:different flavors of those
Speaker:business models. Then you can
Speaker:pressure-test the architecture
Speaker:against that. What architecture
Speaker:choices I make give me the
Speaker:flexibility to evolve my
Speaker:offerings and my business models
Speaker:over time? Some stack choices
Speaker:are great for a narrow, one
Speaker:business model, and if you're
Speaker:quite confident that your future
Speaker:looks exactly like this, you
Speaker:might make one set of choices,
Speaker:but if you're uncertain about
Speaker:how this market is going to
Speaker:evolve, then you want a more
Speaker:flexible architecture that's
Speaker:allowing you that flexibility
Speaker:for the future.
Speaker:The only thing I would add is
Speaker:that when we are going through
Speaker:the options, it's always good to
Speaker:start with those use cases and
Speaker:do end-to-end process so you can
Speaker:see how the process actually
Speaker:works and where the gaps are,
Speaker:and then you scale, versus
Speaker:trying to do everything together.
Speaker:Pick a use case, follow the end-
Speaker:to-end process, and that will
Speaker:actually help you work out the
Speaker:kinks in the process, and then
Speaker:go to the next one, and the next
Speaker:one.
Speaker:Just to bring the conversation
Speaker:back full circle, Vik, one of
Speaker:the things you highlighted early
Speaker:in the conversation was around
Speaker:the importance of product
Speaker:companies becoming digitized and
Speaker:connected, and then ecosystems
Speaker:being built on top of them. I
Speaker:recognize that in the
Speaker:traditional economy, product
Speaker:companies furiously competed
Speaker:based on capability and feature
Speaker:set, and it was very hard to
Speaker:differentiate. Whereas today, it
Speaker:seems like companies big and
Speaker:small can collaborate, and
Speaker:partner, and enable different
Speaker:components of the ecosystem.
Speaker:Would love to get your thoughts
Speaker:on coopetition as a future of
Speaker:business and how that impacts
Speaker:the way businesses seek to
Speaker:compete.
Speaker:When I started my career 20-plus
Speaker:years ago, the thing used to be
Speaker:that in the next few years, it's
Speaker:not going to be companies
Speaker:competing with each other,
Speaker:rather, supply chains of
Speaker:companies competing with each
Speaker:other. The last four or five
Speaker:years, I've started to say that
Speaker:it's not the supply chains
Speaker:anymore. It's the ecosystem of
Speaker:the...how do you build the
Speaker:ecosystem around you and how do
Speaker:you leverage that to drive your
Speaker:growth and transform, is going
Speaker:to define who is going to win.
Speaker:I'm a firm believer that you got
Speaker:to build your ecosystem. You got
Speaker:to pick the right partners, and
Speaker:then you got to go all in,
Speaker:whether it's to build the
Speaker:product, whether it's to scale,
Speaker:or whether it's to drive growth
Speaker:in the market. I think that is
Speaker:here to stay, and we see the
Speaker:various elements of that. If
Speaker:you look at Microsoft, Microsoft
Speaker:is actually providing software
Speaker:to Dell and HP. On the same
Speaker:token, Microsoft also has the
Speaker:product that competes with what
Speaker:Dell and HP have to offer. I
Speaker:feel that, like you said, the
Speaker:coopetition is here to stay.
Speaker:You just need to continue to
Speaker:invest in pockets which can
Speaker:drive benefit for you and know
Speaker:that someone is going to come up
Speaker:with competition, whether it's
Speaker:your ecosystem partner or
Speaker:competition. How you continue to
Speaker:gain and join that? That's real
Speaker:innovation.
Speaker:Thanks, Vik, David. This was
Speaker:phenomenal, really great
Speaker:insights into as-a-service
Speaker:business models and how product
Speaker:companies can transform. I
Speaker:really enjoyed the conversation
Speaker:and look forward to connecting
Speaker:again soon. Thank you.
Speaker:Same here. Thank you.
Speaker:Thanks, Dan.
Speaker:On the next episode of Decoding
Speaker:Digital...
Speaker:In a digital world, things are
Speaker:infinite. The possibilities are
Speaker:infinite. The opportunity is
Speaker:infinite. The ability for
Speaker:inclusion is infinite. The
Speaker:ability to actually make money
Speaker:is infinite.
Speaker:Founder, chairman, and principal
Speaker:analyst at Constellation
Speaker:Research, Ray Wang. Thanks for
Speaker:listening to Decoding Digital.
Speaker:Make sure you never miss an
Speaker:episode by subscribing to the
Speaker:show in your favorite podcast
Speaker:player. To learn more, visit
Speaker:decodingdigital.com. Until next